In order to allow entities such as, for example, financial institutions, merchants and law enforcement agencies to determine whether various forms of paper-based payment are or are not counterfeit, such forms of paper payment often have built-in security devices. Examples of such paper-based payment forms include paper currency, checks, money orders, cashier's checks, traveller checks and the like. Individual units of paper currency are generally referred to as bills (e.g., $10 bills).
One example of a security measure is a specific ink composition used to print indicia on paper-based forms of payment. Proprietary inks, which are made by government entities or only available to government entities, are often used in printing paper currency. Another example of a security measure is an item that is integrated into or attached to the paper from which a paper-based form of payment is made and that is best viewed with light passing through the paper. Specific examples of such an item include an article designating information such as a denomination of a particular bill, an originating country of a particular bill, etc. In certain denominations of United States paper currency, a thread (e.g., a plastic strip) is embedded in the paper and glows green when exposed to ultraviolet light. Still another example of a security measure is microprinting of indicia on the paper currency, which is viewable only with a magnification device. Yet another example of a security measure is a watermark (i.e., a faint image) that is formed in the paper and that is best viewed with light passing through the paper.
Checking for security measures in paper-based forms of payment can be time-consuming and less than convenient. For example, checking for security measures that are best identified with light passing through the particular paper based-form of payment is often difficult when preferred light sources are inaccessible or in convenient to access. Additionally, some security measures require a particular type of light (e.g., ultraviolet light) and/or a particular intensity of light. Absent these conditions, it may be difficult to authenticate even legitimate paper-based forms of payment. However, even in view of such inconveniences, time-consuming practices and special requirements, it is in a business's best interest to examine any currency it receives because it typically assumes the loss for any counterfeit forms of payment that it accepts.
Therefore, apparatuses that overcome drawbacks and limitations associated with conventional approaches for visually identifying security measures in paper-based forms of payment would be useful, advantageous and novel.